Education: William Mitchell College of Law
Degree: JD
Year: 1991
Honors: magna cum laude

Key Practice Experience

• National product liability trial counsel for manufacturers including carbon monoxide exposure, fires, explosions, burns and wrongful death for the heater and boiler industry
• Trucking and transportation industry defense including property damage, personal injury including catastrophic accidents and brain injuries
• Catastrophic personal injury defense including complex brain and internal injuries and significant burns
• Industrial product defense on presses, aerial devices, benders, paper mill products, laminators, electrical equipment and gas valves
• Defense of farm equipment manufacturers involving combines, skid loaders, tractors, PTO’s, forage harvesters, balers and other equipment
• Representation of employers in workplace safety issues including assistance with OSHA investigations and contest citations

Key Industry Experience

• Industrial machinery
• Heaters and boilers
• Electrical equipment
• Trucking and transportation
• Automobiles
• Electrical utilities
• Farm equipment

Representative Cases/Transactions

• Peltz: Defense verdict obtained in product liability trial involving serious burn injury
• Foust: Jury trial on trucking case involving brain injury
• Rogers: Jury trial in wrongful death case defending manufacturer of electrical load center
• Tiffany Lounge: Jury trial in serious injury case defending premises owner
• Anderson: Jury trial resulting from significant property damage defending automobile manufacturer
• Abbey Home Health Care: Court trial regarding property damage defending medical equipment company
• Savickas: Jury trial on wrongful death case defending furnace manufacturer
• Dansky: Jury trial on significant property damage case defending pool heater manufacturer
• Thompson: Summary judgment granted for manufacturer of laminator in personal injury case
• Clewette: Summary judgment granted for manufacturer of furnace in wrongful death case
• Burkey: Summary judgment granted for manufacturer of puller machine in personal injury case
• Coogan: Summary judgment granted for manufacturer of aerial lift in wrongful death case
• Ehlers: Summary judgment granted for manufacturer of x-ray equipment
• Reckstad: Summary judgment granted for hospital in injury case
• Thach: Eighth Circuit affirmed order dismissing rice cooker manufacturer based on expiration of statute of limitations and improper Hague service in multiple wrongful death claim
• University of Vermont:  Summary judgment for heater manufacturer based on successor liability doctrine in death and brain injury case
• Tarbill: Zero contribution in multi-million dollar settlement in wrongful death case representing manufacturer
• Peterson: Zero contribution in multi-million dollar settlement in paralysis case presenting manufacturer

Professional Recognitions/Honors

• Selected in Minnesota Rising Stars from 1998 to 2004
• Selected by peers in Minnesota Super Lawyers from 2005 to present

Selected Publications/Presentations

• Minnesota Section for Compendium of Trucking and Transportation Law, ALFA Publication, March 2008
• “Compliance with New Standard for Safety Information can Assist Product Manufacturers in Defending Failure to Warn Claims,” DRI, The Voice, July 2007
• “What can Law Firms do to Increase Diversity,” Hennepin County Bar Association Diversity CLE, February 1, 2007
• “Meeting Standards in One Country can Prompt Suits in Another,” The Product Safety Engineering Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 2, June 2006, Republished in Cleaner Times, Nov. 2007
• Extensively Quoted in: “Effective PR, Rapid Assessment Essential for Defending Product Liability Cases,” Midwest In-House, Lawyers Weekly, March 17, 2005
• Extensively Quoted in: “Domestic-Partner Benefits Gaining Ground at Law Firms,” Minnesota Lawyer, Vol. 9, No. 7, February 14, 2005
• “FIRE! Litigating Property and Casualty Claims Caused by Fire: Electrical Fires,” Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, October 2, 1996
• “State by State Survey of the Economic Loss Doctrine in Construction Litigation,” Minnesota Section, American Bar Association, July 1996
• “Court of Appeals Clarifies Board Policies on Allowable Expenses and Fund Transfers,” Allied Charities of Minnesota, October 1995
• “Defending Forum Shopping by Foreign Plaintiffs” – BNA’s Product Safety and Liability Reporter, Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., January 20, 1995 – Toxic Law Reporter, Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., September 20, 1995
• “Document Retention and Legal Issues Arising Upon the Sale of a Business,” Product Liability International, August 1994
• “A Foreign Manufacturer’s Guide to American Products Liability Law, Trends and Prevention,” Products Liability Law Journal, August 1993, Volume 4, Issue 4

Professional Associations

• Defense Research Institute, Products Committee
• Defense Research Institute, Trucking and Transportation Committee
• American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practice Section
• ALFA, Products Practice Group Leader
• ALFA, Trucking and Transportation Practice Group Leader
• Minnesota Women Lawyers
• Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA)

Bar Admissions

• Minnesota State Courts
• U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit
• Pro Hac Vice Admission in most states

Other Education

• B.S. in Social Work, College of St. Benedict